Barbara Stanwyck never looked more feminine or gave a more luminous performance than in this touching Christmas classic directed by Mitchell Leisen. A fine screenplay from the great Preston Sturges and an excellent supporting cast bolster this sentimental film into a Holiday staple you’ll watch every Christmas.

Fred MacMurray is Assistant District Attorney John Sargent, charged with prosecuting pretty shoplifter Lee Leander right before Christmas. He coaxes her defense attorney into a postponement so he can spend Christmas on his mom’s farm in Wabash, Indiana. Feeling guilty when Lee reacts badly to being locked up during the Christmas season, he arranges for her release. Startled to find her childhood home is just a few miles from Wabash, John decides he can drop her off and pick her up on his way back to New York for the trial.

As with all good Christmas classics, one must just go with some improbable circumstances and accept what’s happening. Stanwyck and MacMurray were a great team, and there are some very fun moments as they keep getting lost on the backroads of Indiana. There is nothing funny about the reaction of Stanwyck’s mother when she goes home after all those years, however.

John’s family is warm and welcoming, with only his mother (Beulah Bondi) aware of Lee’s situation. Elizabeth Patterson is wonderful as John’s aunt, taking an immediate shine to Lee and helping her worm her way into John’s heart. It is the family Lee never had, the one thing that might have made a difference in how her life has turned out. There is a particularly warm and moving on Christmas morning.

Stanwyck, often unfairly described by her critics as less than beautiful, has never been so much so as in a tender bedroom scene with John’s mother, who realizes her son might love her enough to jeopardize his career. A wonderful moment between the couple at Niagra Falls suggests that his mother may be right. A gesture of love climaxes in a memorable ending for fans with a sentimental heart for Christmas stories.

This is a warm and wonderful film to watch at Christmas, or any time. There are fine performances from everyone, and a truly memorable one from Barbara Stanwyck. ( )

A prosecutor bails out his defendant for Christmas.

2.5/4 (Okay)

For the first 3/4 of the movie it seems to be a romantic comedy, and is pretty good. Then out of nowhere it decides to be Serious Drama, and isn't even good at it.

(Jul. 2021) ( )